Laura Wilber

[Jon Beck @CoachJonBeck]

You can read, display & talk inspirational quotes & messages all day, but are they just for show or are they what you believe & model? REAL values lead to real behaviors. What you DO is much more important that what you SAY. Others will know by your behaviors whether you live it!

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

Being a Sports Parent is Hard.

Be an MVP = MOST VALUABLE PARENT.

Here are 8 ways!

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@Richard74689832 @onenotepoet @EThorntonGHS Agree. I’m not taking issue with the technology. The problem is our addiction to the device. Putting the phone they do not need away is helping them with the life skill of respecting rules, prioritizing something of other significance, practicing self control, etc.

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@kmchoyt @EThorntonGHS Oh, no! 🤦🏼‍♀️

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@EThorntonGHS I got so frustrated with fighting this and although an admin told me to be careful about taking them, I created tech cubbies from cardboard organizers bought on Amazon. The kids put them in when they get to class and they take them out when they leave. I never touch the phones.

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@heymrsbond I’m recently divorced. My kids are with their dad this week. 2 of them have orthodontist appts today. I’m taking them because for 17 years this is the way we’ve done it; I do drs appts. But I realize, especially now, it doesn’t make sense.

[Nat Eliason @nateliason]

Prove you can do hard things

When a teenager asks why they need to learn calculus, what should you say?

You know they will never use it in adulthood, outside of certain career choices.

You could say, “It’ll help you get into college,” but then they’re left wondering why college cares if you know calculus.

And once they’re in college, maybe you could say, “To get a good job,” but why would a potential hirer care how you did in multivariate calculus if your job doesn’t require any knowledge of calculus?

But I recently realized there is a very good reason to take Calculus. It’s to prove you can do hard things.

The ability to do hard things is perhaps the most useful ability you can foster in yourself or your children. And proof that you are someone who can do them is one of the most useful assets you can have on your life resume.

Our self-image is composed of historical evidence of our abilities. The more hard things you push yourself to do, the more competent you will see yourself to be.

If you can run marathons or throw double your body weight over your head, the sleep deprivation from a newborn is only a mild irritant.

If you can excel at organic chemistry or econometrics, onboarding for a new finance job will be a breeze.

But if we avoid hard things, anything mildly challenging will seem insurmountable.

We’ll cry into TikTok over an errant period at the end of a text message. We’ll see ourselves as incapable of learning new skills, taking on new careers, and escaping bad situations.

The proof you can do hard things is one of the most powerful gifts you can give yourself.

My goal with our kids is to avoid lying to them as much as possible.

I won’t tell them that calculus is super important or even that grades are super important. The truth is, they aren’t, so long as you have other plans.

Calculus is a great way to prove you can do hard things if you have no other proof to show.

But if you’re learning programming and building apps in your free time, or winning soccer championships, or writing a novel, then you are doing hard things. Probably harder than Calculus.

This is also why there’s so much survivorship bias and bad advice in the “C students hire A students” trope. Most C students are not doing other hard things instead of school. They’re just goofing off, so they end up working for the A student.

But some C students are getting C’s because they’re obsessed with other projects. Hard projects. And that obsession with doing hard things lets them blow past their Excellent Sheep peers over time.

So if you have a C student who’s obsessed with something hard, you probably don’t have to worry. If they’re getting high and watching TikTok, well…

I don’t particularly care what grades my kids get once they start school. But I do care that they consistently prove to themselves they can do hard things. If Calculus is how they want to do it, fine, but there are many, many more options.

And if you’re not someone who knows they can do hard things, find a way to prove it to yourself.

Build a habit, learn a skill, create something, whatever it is that turns your default stance on challenges from “that seems hard” to “I can figure it out.”

Create proof you can do hard things.

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@heymrsbond @spencerideas That’s exactly what I was thinking!

[Joseph Fasano @Joseph_Fasano_]

Today's Poetry Thread: THE WILDERNESS

I love these words by Mary Oliver very much. Feel free to add poems.

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@Joseph_Fasano_ My favorite Mary Oliver words. 🥰

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

What’s the most thought-provoking book you’ve read in the past year?

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@keeterclass @MarcusLuther6 Can you elaborate on this and give an example? I keep seeing “gallery walks” on this thread and others, and I am intrigued. But I don’t know what it looks like or how to implement it in HS English.

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@heymrsbond @JoelRGarza He was my favorite!

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@heymrsbond I wish I didn’t know this. My heart was already broken enough for that family.

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

A note to everyone posting jokes and memes about the Titanic submersible:

Making fun of other people’s plight demeans you along with them. Regardless of the cause, ridiculing tragedy should be beneath all of us.

Human suffering cries out for compassion, not schadenfreude.

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@Joseph_Fasano_ Dadless grasses. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to not think about that when tending the yard.

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@ProfesoraLMO @VanCarlito2003 My then 13 year old son said the same thing to me when I told my children I was divorcing their father. That was exactly the reassurance I needed that I was making the right decision for all of us. 🥹

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@MarAntonelli1 Wow! Well done. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Laura Wilber @LauraWilber6]

@TheDejaKing @MiaShellyMac I’m wondering if anyone knew she was pregnant. I read she weighed 96lbs. At 5’9 and 8mos pregnant?! This poor woman. Such a sad story.

[𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 @DrBradJohnson]

You may not have a Teacher of the Year Award to hang on your wall, but the handwritten notes & drawings from your students that are tucked in your desk drawer or hanging on the wall are the real trophies that motivate and inspire you to be your very best!